Retired teacher, now in wheelchair, ready to testify against Memphis teens who robbed, shot her

Shooting victim, 72, ready to testify against teens

Retired schoolteacher Sara Erwin, 72, who was shot over $20, said she is looking forward to testifying Friday against her two teenage robbers.

"I'm going to be real happy to come and testify and get that over with," she said Thursday. "I'll be there in a wheelchair. I just wear out."

During Friday's hearing in Shelby County Juvenile Court, prosecutors plan to argue to transfer the teens, ages 15 and 17, to adult court on felony aggravated robbery and especially aggravated robbery charges.

Attorney Samuel Jones, who represents the younger teen, said his client has never been arrested before and should remain in the juvenile system, where rehabilitation — not punishment — is the focus.

However, Asst. Dist. Atty. Jamey Kaplan argued during previous hearings that the younger teen is the one who had the gun and shot Erwin.

The father of the older teen said his son didn't know the 15-year-old was going to rob and shoot the teacher.

"He let me know he did have a gun and let his friend use it," said the father, who didn't know how his son got the weapon. "He said he had it for protection."

The father said his son has been in trouble before for burglary and fighting in school, but he hopes he gets another chance instead of facing trial as an adult.

Erwin, who taught Memphis junior high students in the 1960s at what was then Sherwood Junior High and then high school students in Alabama, hopes prosecutors prevail and both are transferred.

"That was an adult crime," she said. "They really need to be off the streets."

The retired English teacher was known as an active and vivacious person, said Eileene Ault, a friend and former student at Sherwood. But she has had to slow down since the Nov. 27 shooting at her home in Whitehaven.

Erwin didn't want to discuss details of the incident while the case is pending, but prosecutors have given their version of events:

The teens came to Erwin's home two days after Thanksgiving and asked if she would pay them to rake her leaves. She already had lawn care service and declined.

Three days later, the teens returned. The 17-year-old, who had given the 15-year-old the gun, waited in the driveway at about 3:30 p.m. while the younger teen knocked on the door, pushed his way past Erwin and chased her with a pistol. She tried to run down the hall but fell. Before grabbing her purse, which was on the kitchen counter, the teen first fired a shot. The bullet tore through Erwin's buttocks, colon, liver, stomach and diaphragm. It lodged in tissue under her left arm, where — despite surgery — it remains.

Erwin is expected to describe the extent of her injuries and their long-term impact during the hearing.

Neighbors called police after seeing the teen forcing his way inside the home, in the 1200 block of Lehr, east of Elvis Presley. They soon saw him running from the home carrying a purse.

Police found the handgun and a gun magazine in the older teen's home and bullets in his pockets. They found the victim's purse outside the younger teen's home.

A Juvenile Court judge is expected to decide Friday whether to transfer one or both minors, put them in state custody or place them in one of a variety of programs.

With a federal mandate to first exhaust all rehabilitative efforts, transfers of juveniles to adult court in Memphis have been on the decline. The number of transfers dropped from 151 in 2010 to 121 in 2011. Last year, there were 99 transfers.